This Week

So it's been a pretty full on week. I'm in a place where all that I want to write seems so secondary compared to sleep. As I wrote a couple of entries back, Mum had her feet operated on - which means I'm picking up the pieces. I've been going to bed at 11 and been up at 6, and when the days are filled with driving little brother to school, cooking dinner, shopping for food and cleaning, pet care etc. it becomes quite exhausting. At least my work schedule isn't too intense - I'm working 4 days from 8-3. This means I have time to go to the gym, walk the dog and cook dinner before a crazy hour! This is why I've not updated... I've thought of lots of things, but yes... time slips away. But I slept in until 8, the housework is done, and all I have to do today is, walk the dog and cook sushi for dinner giving me time to go to yoga and dye my hair.

What I have done this week is a 'deep clean' of my room. My room is tidy, but I did the whole "pull everything out of the draws and clean" clean. Which took quite along time but has many positive results such as being able to open my desk draws without the contents spilling out. I also did the same with my bathroom draws, and had all my jewelry boxes lined up in the draw. Dear, that last thing makes me feel so LA trash like. But it makes me feel really refreshed when I come into my room. I've also put a white board magnetic board thing on my wall, which I can write up to do lists and stick up pictures and what not. And, I've also kulled my wardrobe!!! I've got 4 garbage bags of clothing. Now, I'm not really sure I want to get rid of them... so I'm doing to buy some cheap storage boxes from Crazy Clarks and put them away, so I can really see how much I need, what isn't particle and what I enjoy the most. I've halved my wardrobe. Pretty much, If I've not warn in more than three times in the last 6 months, or I don't know what I'll wear it with is in the bags. Here are my tips for wardrobe kulling:

1. Make sure you have some good music, a fan and are in a good mood as it can be a big job
2. Get 3 - 4 bags so you can separate your clothes into: Keep, storage, charity, bin. Storage being things that may be too small, or are bulky winter clothes that you want to put away, clothes that you don't wear but are in good condition go to charity and then bin for undies and clothes that are falling apart.
3. If you haven't warn it more than 3 times in the last 6 months, you can probably say that it's not an important part of your closet - get rid of it. Free up some space for new season clothes. This exception is to formal dresses - I decided to get some command hooks and display my 18th dress, and some vintage dresses on my wall.
4. Write a list of what you got rid of - so you can find trends. For example - I had five black skirts and as many black cocktail dresses. Next time I see a nice black dress, I'll know that I didn't wear the ones I had so I should look at shoes instead!!
5. Place everything back neatly. Try to invest in wooden or material hangers. I've got mostly plastic, but my collection of wooden and cloth is growing. DO NOT USE WEIR HANGERS! This is so bad for your clothes; it can change the shape and stain them. Ikea have some really cheap plastic ones, likewise for Target and Coles. Put your clothes back in an order that suits you, I enjoy colour arrange. There is nothing better than going to my closet and seeing the rainbow of cloth hanging neatly to entice me. Arranging neatly means you can see what you've got, makes picking easier too.


Okay, so I said that I’d give credit to things I like on Sundays. I’ve been slack – so here is this week’s list:
1. Sleeping in
2. Staying in pajamas all day
3. Sunday lunches
4. Yoga
5. Movies with families
6. Making cupcakes

From Tuesday

Things are good. Very busy. Very, very busy. I've been running around like a frantic house wife trying to get everything done. This resulted in a minor breakdown last night as my very tight schedule was broken and I couldn't get everything done. I do believe that perhaps this intensity is due to PMS... let's hope. How horrid would it be to find out that this crazy mess isn't due to chemicals - I even have a pimple to prove it!!

So, I've been working and I don't have anything besides self reflection to write about. Another year of uni is about to start in a few weeks. It seems to distill in my a sense of newness, even though I've been at uni for 3 semesters. I find it the perfect time to start a new, and work hard on becoming the person that I want to be. Looking back from when I finished school, there is a huge change... I used to listen to pop music, dress like everyone else and failed to form a view on things that weren't reinforced by society. Perhaps this now means I'm in limbo - that horrid term of 'mainstream alternative' - people always have music genre subgroups, don't they? I think in our minds, we always see a project of how we want to be and we seem to always compare it with how we are now. Change is good, change is growth in these terms. This year, I'm going to work on becoming the person I see in my mind. The person I see is happy and smiling from the inside out, pink hair, amazing shoes and self assurance. This reflection comes with the fact that my 20th birthday is next month, and I feel that leaving teenage years gives me room to become all of this.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day or Saint Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14 by many people throughout the world. In the West, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. The holiday is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

An alternative theory from Belarus states that the holiday originates from the story of Saint Valentine, who upon rejection by his mistress was so heartbroken that he took a knife to his chest and sent her his still-beating heart as a token of his undying love for her. Hence, heart-shaped cards are now sent as a tribute to his overwhelming passion and suffering.

The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines." Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The sending of Valentines was a fashion in nineteenth-century Great Britain, and, in 1847, Esther Howland developed a successful business in her Worcester, Massachusetts home with hand-made Valentine cards based on British models. The popularity of Valentine cards in 19th-century America was a harbinger of the future commercialization of holidays in the United States.

The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend in average twice as much money as women.